السبت، 12 فبراير، 2011

Aim of this section is to learn the personal pronouns and their use in the four cases.

personal pronoun(as subject)

verb

personal pronoun(as object)

Iyouhe/she/itweyouthey

knowknowknowsknowknowknow

her.her.her.her.her.her.

rules

in general

The term personal comes from word person. We use the personal pronouns to talk about a person or thing.

The term pronoun consists of the words pro (für) and noun (nomen) which means the pronouns stand for a person / thing and with their help the name of the noun can be replaced.

example: Catherine Estose Pacana is my girlfriend. She lives in Cagayan (instead of repeating the name again: Catherine Estose Pacana lives in Cagayan).

personal pronouns in nominative

These pronouns are used to speak about a person / thing who does something or is something. The pronoun is the subject of the sentence.

ich

du / Sie

er

sie

es

wir

ihr

sie

ich: you use when you speak about yourself

du: you use when you speak to a single person (informal)

er: you use when you speak about a male person or a thing with a male gender

sie: you use when you speak about a female person or a thing with a female gender

es: you use when you speak about a thing with a neutral gender

wir: you use when you speak about several people yourself included

ihr: you use when you speak to several people

sie: you use when you speak about several people

Sie: you use when you speak to a single person (formal)

There are two big differences between German and English:

- In German "er/sie" (he/she) is also used to descibe dead things. Most dead things in German have a male or female gender.- In German are two forms of "you". "Du" is used for family members, friends, children and other people who are close to the speaker. "Sie" is formal way to say you and is used for business partner, colleagues and other adults who are not close to the speaker.

personal pronouns in dative and accusative

Here you can use the same explanation like in nominative. We speak again about a person / thing but in the dative and accusative the person / thing is not acting. It is the object of the sentence.Surely you will ask where is the difference between dative and accusative because in English there is just one case and not two. This is an own big topic and will be covered in the section "Die 4 Fälle".

mir / mich: you use when somebody does something with you

dir / dich: you use when you do something with a single person (informal)

ihm / ihn: you use when somebody does something with a male person

ihr / sie: you use when somebody does something with a female person

ihm / es: you use when somebody does something with a dead thing

uns / uns: you use when somebody does something with several people yourself included

euch / euch: you use when somebody does something with several people

ihnen / sie : you use when somebody does something with several people

Ihnen / Sie: you use when you do something with a single person (formal)

personal pronouns in genitive

The personal pronouns in genitive are not used to talk about the person but about what belongs to the person / about what possesses the person.

mein(e/er): you use to talk about things which belong to you

dein(e/er): you use to talk about things which belong to a single person (informal)

sein(e/er): you use to talk about things which belong to a male person

ihr(e/er): you use to talk about things which belong to a female person

sein(e/er): you use to talk about things which belong to a dead thing

unser(e): you use to talk about things which belong several people yourself included

euer(e) : you use to talk about things which belong to several people

ihr(e/er) : you use to talk about things which belong to several people

Ihr(e/er): you use to talk about things which belong to a single person (formal)

I put the endings in brackets because in the genitive case it depends on the gender which ending you have to use. This problem will be covered in the section "Possessivpronomen".

all personal pronouns

Person

Numerus

Geschlecht

1.Person

Singular

-

2.Person

Singular

-

3.Person

Singular

männlich

3.Person

Singular

weiblich

3.Person

Singular

sächlich

1.Person

Plural

-

2.Person

Plural

-

3.Person

Plural

-

2.Person

Sing./Plur.

-

Nominativ

Deutsch

Englisch

ich

I

du

you

er

he

sie

she

es

it

wir

we

ihr

you

sie

they

Sie

you

Genitiv

Deutsch

Englisch

mein(e/er)

my

dein(e/er)

your

sein(e/er)

his

ihr(e/er)

her

sein(e/er)

its

unser(e)

our

euer(e)

your

ihr(e/er)

their

Ihr(e/er)

your

Dativ

Deutsch

Englisch

mir

me

dir

you

ihm

him

ihr

her

ihm

it

uns

us

euch

you

ihnen

them

Ihnen

you

Akkusativ

Deutsch

Englisch

mich

me

dich

you

ihn

him

sie

her

es

it

uns

us

euch

you

sie

them

Sie

you

1. Person: pronouns of the 1st person refer to the speaker

2. Person: pronouns of the 2nd person refer to the person you talk to

3. Person: pronouns of the 3rd person refer to the person / thing you talk about

Aim of this section is to bring any verb in the correct form in the present tense:

Subject

any verb

object.

Iyouhe/she/itweyouthey

readreadreadsreadreadread

a book.a book.a book.a book.a book.a book.

In English it's quite easy. You just have to add a "s" for "he/she/it" and for the rest you can take the infinitive.In German there is a different ending for almost every person.

rules

There are three groups of verbs:

group A: verbs which follow a strict pattern

group B: verbs which follow a strict pattern with slightly exceptions

group C: verbs which don't follow any pattern

group A: verbs which follow a strict pattern

Fortunately, most verbs follow a strict pattern which is easy to remember:

person

ending

example(gehen = go)

ich

stem + e

gehe

du

stem + st

gehst

er / sie / es

stem + t

geht

wir

"infinitive"

gehen

ihr

stem + t

geht

sie

"infinitive"

gehen

For "wir" and "sie" (plural) just use the infinitive without any modification. For "du", "er/sie/es" and "ihr" use the Wortstamm (stem) and add the ending from the table.The Wortstamm (stem) is the infinitive without the ending "en".

group B: verbs which follow a strict pattern with slightly exceptions

Verbs of group B follow the same rules as group A but for some verbs slightly modifications are necessary:

1.) Verbs in which the stem ends with "t", "d", "chn", "dn", "fn", "gn" or "tm" require an additional "e" after the stem in the "du", "er/sie/es" and "ihr" -form.

person

ending

example(arbeiten = work)

ich

stem + e

arbeite

du

stem + e + st

arbeitest

er / sie / es

stem + e + t

arbeitet

wir

"infinitive"

arbeiten

ihr

stem + e + t

arbeitet

sie

"infinitive"

arbeiten

2.) Verbs in which the stem ends with "s", "ss", "ß", "x" or "z" require just a "t" instead of "st" in the the "du"-form.

person

ending

example(tanzen = dance)

ich

stem + e

tanze

du

stem + t

tanzt

er / sie / es

stem + t

tanzt

wir

"infinitive"

tanzen

ihr

stem + t

tanzt

sie

"infinitive"

tanzen

3.) When the stem ends with "eln" the "e" before "l" is dropped in the "ich"-form.

person

ending

example(lächeln = smile)

ich

stem - e + e

lächle

du

stem + st

lächelst

er / sie / es

stem + t

lächelt

wir

"infinitive"

lächeln

ihr

stem + t

lächelt

sie

"infinitive"

lächeln

4.) Some verbs with an "a" or "e" in their stem change the stem vowel to "ä" or "ie / i" in the "du" and "er/sie/es"-form.